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Interview With Robby Foldvari
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.Interview with Robby Foldvari – May 2017
(Editor’s note: Robby has won numerous championships in snooker and other cue sport disciplines, as well as Billiards, but in this interview, we will focus mostly on his Billiards career).
Billiards Australia: How old were you when you first started playing? Where was the billiard room?
Robby: I started playing on a small outdoor table at home, then transferred to the garage, where we put in a full size table when I was 15. In the summer, under the hot tin roof, it was well over 100 deg and in the winter it leaked and the strips of carpet sometimes squelched under foot but it did not matter to me then. There was a billiard room in Bentleigh East where I road my bike to practice.
Billiards Australia: Did you start with Billiards or Snooker?
Robby: I played snooker first with second hand mismatched balls, then played billiards.
Billiards Australia: Who was your first coach (or who first showed you the basic billiard shots)?
Robby: I first learnt some billiard shots from my friend’s dad in another garage, then I went to the Chairman’s Club in Doncaster and I saw some good players play.
Billiards Australia: How long before you made your first 100 break at billiards? Do you still remember that day?
Robby: I made my first 100 soon after I got my full size table at 15, but there were many pots off the spot.
Billiards Australia: When you were young, before you won your first major event, how many hours a week did you practice?
Robby: I practised for an hour or 2 every second day, after I finished my would be VFL Football dreams at High school but on term breaks it would soon be 6 hours plus. At uni it was every day for a couple of hours and much more on many occasions, I would do 2 hr sessions, morning , afternoon and night.
Billiards Australia: Tell us a little about your experiences with the great Murt O’Donoghue and how he helped you.
Robby: I met Murt when I was lucky enough to get on a tour of NSW by the Chairman’s Club ( first semi professional team in Australasia) and we played in the City Tatts Bookies Club, (1977) then 8 tables in a great billiard room, adjacent were the bookies sorting out there bets in cash on the horses and on the snooker. Murt was there sitting and watching, near his plaque where it stated he made 7 centuries in 10 frames at snooker ( he made the world’s first 147 in the 1930s). He loved billiards much more. I was playing snooker then and he said I should play billiards and he showed me some shots. When we played intervarsity in Sydney we went to his house and he showed me more and hit me round the head when I played the wrong shot, some in jest , some quite hard. He told me many stories of the billiard greats and his hustling days. There were no mobiles then and land line calls to Sydney cost a lot so I asked him if I could write to him to ask him questions on a shot. Basically every time he wrote back he inspired me and I made my highest break in practice in the garage that day or the next. Peter Andrew, an RACV Club member, had diagrams that his dad gave him from watching Lindrum. He gave me some Lindrum diagrams to practice and helped me, he took me to meet Murt when he came down to watch the World Amateur in Melbourne where Murt showed me more at the Masonic Club. I sat next to Murt at the championship and while we watched the best players he would nudge me and whisper about their play and when they played the incorrect shot.
Perhaps 18 months later Murt invited me to stay at his house and he had a table out the back. He was getting old but could still play some great shots, he would play shots to gather the balls and he could literally play nursery cannons without looking at the balls while talking to you. I had never made a 500 break when I went up, and the second day we went out and he talked me through a break and I was so happy as I made 500. I was going to go inside and he said “let’s have one more go” and I made another consecutive 500, I could see he was pleased, perhaps more than me, he was always a jovial guy and liked looking at the ladies but he loved his wife Grace, who made the best scones after our sessions. I don’t think he and Bob Marshall saw eye to eye.
Billiards Australia: Your floating white top-of-the-table has always been known as among the most precise of players in the modern era – keeping the opponents ball “on the line”. How much of that was Murt’s influence? How important do you think that is compared to some very good players who tend to chip the opponents ball around more “in the box”?
Robby; Thanks; It was so much Murts influence, he told me he had a lightning bolt thought moment when he made the line a little shorter and hence I used that. I believe it made all the difference and by the end before I turned professional and went to England the first time, I would not go in from the garage until I made 500. I think before me everyone played the box and with the line as Fererria told the Indians he had seen something a bit more accurate after my first international appearance in the world amateur in Malta in 83 and when I went on to the UK. Mark Wildman confirmed this. I think the great Russell and Gilchrist saw me and they refined it even more. Dagley and Rex Williams made very big breaks chipping around the box but the line can really steel your concentration.
Billiards Australia: How many different cues have you used in competition over the years?
Robby: My first cue was a machine made maple and ebony butt, no badge. I remember I practised so much it had a groove worn into the butt where I gripped it, no doubt I held it too tight and that’s where my wrist injury started. It was a bit like George Ganim Jnr’s cue, very thick. After a couple of seasons in the UK I changed it to longer ASH/ Ebony cue made by Rodney Hinde who made cues for many pros. The join went loose in the week before I played Hendry in the European Snooker Open. Then I got another Hinde both longer and thinner than the first.
Billiards Australia: Tell us about your current cue – how long have you had it, how long is it, how much does it weigh, maple or ash, what size tip do you use.
Robby: I have now gone back to maple, ebony butt mainly because it feels a bit more like my American pool Cue. It is a bit under 57” and 17.25 oz. Its 9.5mm but plays better when I have a mushroom overhanging tip. It’s my brand cue Foldvari cue.
Billiards Australia: Have you made any major changes to your cue action over the years? You seem to have the cue further away from your body than you did in the early days? Was this a deliberate choice and why?
Robby: I came back one year from England and Mick Sapkin just mentioned it to me that it happened. I know I made a conscious effort to have a more open stance, like Hendry, Parrot and Steve Davis for snooker and have a longer cue action. If I knew then what I know now that was not the only thing I needed to do. It was also changed due to my wrist and back issues.
Billiards Australia: At one time, you held the world record break under the current rules. Tell us a little about that – the venue, the opponent, did you know what the record was?
Robby: It was at the Brunswick Club in the Victorian Championship, where they had a match arena and the match table was a true billiard table, very tight. They opened the pockets up about 10 years later, I confirmed that with Harry Andrews a few years ago. I played Fred Thomas in the final and David Pitt refereed. I did not know it was a world record then but Ron Atkins thought it was and he asked the IBSF and it was confirmed with the reduced hazards and some minor other rules and my record was written up and ratified in the Billiard Council rule book.
Billiards Australia: Tell us a little about what it was like when you first turned professional and went overseas to play professional snooker and billiards.
Robby: In 1983, after being seeded fourth in the world on just my Australian performances, I played in the IBSF World Amateur Billiards in Malta, reached the Semis and played in a big snooker tournament straight after in Malta where I beat Tony Drago in the semis . I was going to the UK after, to see if I should try and turn pro. Reading Snooker Scene it seemed snooker was now a major sport, in fact in the next couple of years it was bigger than Tennis and Golf. It was a great adventure, no Facebook or Internet, the world of the unknown and a big risk as I quit my job as graduate accountant at BHP in Melbourne. A Scotsman (Joe Nugent) in Malta watched me play and invited me to go to Edinburgh when I was in the UK. In my first billiards tournament in the UK I won the Alleena Classic in Widnes beating Michael Ferreira. I then went to Scotland for Hogmanay in Broxburn as they opened a new snooker club. It was the start of the snooker boom, as a promotion they put signs all over Scotland, “ Australian Billiards Champion will play anyone for as much as you like at Millers Snooker Centre outside Edinburgh”. Bookmakers backed me and I had a week out of the blue and could not lose, never losing a match and winning Barrett's Bookies (and myself) a lot of money. Played a young Scottish Amateur Champion named Stephen Hendry giving him 14 start and defeated him 5 nil. Millers snooker centre and Barrett's said if you turn pro we will sponsor you.
Later in that trip I met Mark Wildman Chairman of the WPBSA and played him In Peterborough and he said they will be putting much more money into billiards and after I made a 400 plus break he said he would help me turn pro.
Much to my parents disappointment I turned pro and went back to the UK. At the newsagents, snooker was on the back and sometimes front page, they were opening clubs everywhere with approximately 20 tables. It was like a dream, snooker was as big as tennis and golf, front page news. I was so excited but I really had nowhere to go when I arrived, so before the first tournament in 1984 I went to Atack Snooker centre in Nuneaton as it was central and I knew Norman Dagley who worked there. I practiced some billiards and made a 660 break with some people watching. The next day I played snooker against a very good amateur (John T?) and in the best of 9 match I made 4 centuries and a 90. It was almost unheard of and in a match I would never play like that again, but the owner of the club Mr Dave Atack saw it and said he would sponsor/manage me. Suddenly I was on the equivalent of over $2000 a week without hitting a ball.
Billiards Australia: Can you describe what is was like to become World Professional Billiards Champion?
Robby: The next season went well and after that in 1986 I became the 2nd youngest winner at the time of the world pro championship. Mark Wildman was true to his word, and it was on the BBC with over 1 million viewers, I beat Norman Dagley, 15 times English Champion and their favourite player, even my manager wanted him to win, he was a likeable guy. I was so happy, I was the first Australian to win since Walter Lindrum, with a part of Lindrum's waistcoat cloth in my waistcoat pocket for good luck, The stars aligned and with the first prize I could buy 60 -70% of a nice little house in Northampton. I woke up the morning after the final and that’s when it hit me, this was my dream come true. We were in a very nice hotel outside Manchester and former World pro snooker Champion and the TV commentator, John Pullman greeted me and my girlfriend at breakfast and welcomed me to the ‘WC club” (World Champion club) and gave me a bottle of Champagne. There were calls from the press and radio from Australia and for that I was runner up to Pat Cash in the Herald- Caltex Sportsman of the year award. I was overseas at that time to collect the statuette but my mum collected it from Ben Lexcin ( America’s Cup Yachting great) I hope she felt proud and a bit better about my decision to turn pro.
It was a dream come true, when I was in the dressing room getting ready to play in a snooker tournament, they were filming a documentary on Joe Johnson and Joe came up to me and said “hello World Professional Billiards champion” and I replied “Hello World Professional Snooker Champion”.
After the win I played many exhibitions at billiards/snooker in the UK and Australia. Yes I am an enigma, as I play exhibitions much differently and am able to show my personality, crowds enjoyed it and often asked me back. Two nights in a row I made 300 first shot , picked up the balls and stopped, then made two centuries at snooker.
Billiards Australia: You played against all the top players in the 80’s and 90’s. Give us your “top three” of that era and why.
Robby: Dagley was a freak, he had a smooth cue action but his bridge hand thumb used to move in unison when his cue went back and forth. His temperament was the best, always with a little grin. I believe this is correct but from when I first went to the UK in late 83 until the end of 87 Dagley was the only player who beat me in Pro tournaments and pro Ams. Then Russell and Sethi came along. Russell was a machine who refined floating white again to another level. Sethi had flair like Ferreira and was more a postman’s knock player. I think he played better in India. I am so proud to have played them and beaten them on their own soil on occasions. Of course I must mention Peter Gilchrist too. I got him often at the start of his career but he became a master break builder at top of the table with a great all round game. Russell, Sethi and Gilchrist all tried to qualify for pro snooker for a short time to no avail. But Gilchrist had the cue action for the snooker but it was hard to break through.
Billiards Australia: If you watch sport on TV (not billiards and snooker) – what do you watch?
Robby: AFL love St Kilda, the final holes of a golf major and some tennis/cricket.
Billiards Australia: Who is your sporting hero (outside of cue sports)? Why?
Robby: I grew up watching Dennis Lillee. He was at the start fast and furious and turned into a wily skilful great, but most of all when the pressure was on he would very often step up a gear.
Billiards Australia: In your prime, did you think there was any particular weakness in your game – anything you would like to have done better (technical or mental).
Robby: I can name plenty. Technically, I gripped the cue too tight for long potting for snooker which created a wrist injury which flared up continually. Also I needed a longer cue action for some shots, And more, if I knew then what I knew now some things would have changed for the better
Many a time I played too tired, another trivia question - I was the only man to ever play a professional billiards and snooker match on the same day, billiards in the morning at Sheffield and snooker at night in Aldershot.
Billiards Australia: In 2011 you played in an invitational event in Adelaide, and made a 512 unfinished, but since that time you have only entered a couple of tournaments and I don’t think we have seen you at your best. Do you think the urge to practice and compete will ever return?
Robby: I put my heart and soul into playing billiards from 16 to 25 determined to win the World pro billiards title, after that from 24 I concentrated more on snooker and tried to excel at both for the next 20 odd years, with some great results. There was too much money and glamour in snooker to ignore, so I juggled both but it effected both games in terms of preparation and looking back I was and am playing tired. In the 80’s & 90’s I was playing more top level comps than anyone, 12 pro snooker, 7 pro billiards, travelling to India 5 times a year, going to Australia to play and then the pro am billiards and snooker in the UK, maybe25 in a year??
What I am trying to say it was a lot more exciting then and goals were something to strive for, the constant travel, switching games (at the top pro level, I was the only one doing it) created some terrible performances but on occasions some that I was truly proud of and others amazed at. I won a WPBS pro snooker tournament beating Darren Morgan in the final 8-1, became the first overseas player to win the UK Pro Billiards Championship and won the biggest Pro Am Snooker tournament in the UK defeating Anthony Hamilton in the final.
Hence nowadays the urge to put in the time usually is not there, and when it is, especially for billiards my wrist and back tend to flare up, if I put in large amounts of time. Billiards is a sport where you need to be fit and for me to put more side on the ball at top of the table or run-throughs, I tend to go back to my old style of twisting my wrist which created problems in the first place.
People may question this as for the last few years I have played a lot of American pool and have been Oceania No 1 at Pool from 2012 to 2016. How can my wrist not hurt so much when I am hitting the balls harder and also you have to be stronger playing all day and all night for a whole weekend? You may ask.. In reality, my cue action is much straighter now, so my wrist most of the time is fine in pool, touch wood. I certainly don’t practice the long hours I did for billiards.
Billiards Australia: Could you imagine yourself ever just playing in a billiard tournament just for fun, without worrying too much about practice and performance?
Robby: Well, I love billiards, but in the back of my mind after I don’t play well, it is mentally painful. I would like to play for fun and I occasional do in practice or an exhibition. But at a tournament venue in Australia, there is so much repititious talk about my game now days it makes it uncomfortable to be at a venue playing and just relax, even when I play a good game there is always someone who wants to discredit you. Yes I know I put myself out there with the marketing when it contained ‘The World’s Best combined Billiards and Snooker player’. People can have a go, but on rankings and tournament level wins and articles in the UK it was certainly arguably true. People expect me to perform as I did as a youngster, even I expect it of myself, I have nothing to gain and had everything to lose if I don’t play to my own expectations.
In a physical sense, as mentioned there is more pain in my wrist and back when playing billiards than the other cuesports. I have never really written about these injuries as I tried to use mind over matter, plus no one would believe you, (and I thought it a sign of weakness but I had to keep playing , it was my livelihood) players use so many excuses that’s why so many don’t improve, it’s always someone else’s fault, “the tables not right”, "my opponent is putting me off”, “I ate peas for dinner and I can feel them rolling around in my stomach” (a true statement once told to me by a very good billiard player). But if people question my wrist story, they can go to find medical records at the Sports Medicine institute in Prahran Melbourne, the sports medicine unit in Singapore and the Olympic Hockey physiotherapist in Edgbaston England. It goes right back to the eighties.
Billiards Australia: Readers would be disappointed if I didn’t ask you about one record of which you may not be so proud – possibly the longest “single session” match ever – when you played Sourav Kothari in the semi-final of the Australian Open billiards (150-up) format, in a match that went over 7.5 hours. What are your recollections of that match? What happened?
Robby: I do not have many recollections about the match and I have hesitated to comment for various reasons but as I started answering openly in the previous questions, so what the hec.
I entered that tournament, the first Australian named Billiard title for quite a few years. I had won all the previous ones I had entered which was not that many. The previous one was the Australian 50 up, defeating Mathew Bolton about 13-8?? In 2004???. I promised myself I would never go in another Australian Billiards Championship unless I was passionate, could practice and had time (that is why I had not entered the Australian National since undefeated in 1983) and pros could not enter until mid-1990’s. Now I have young children and they are of course a major priority, along with other commitments.
Jason Colebrook was trying hard to promote the game and doing some good things, and he asked me a few times to consider entering. At one stage when I used to prepare for a tournament overseas he would be my ball boy and a good guy so I thought ‘lets do it’ for him and the game, even though I was going against my initial promise to myself. I walked into Yarraville and had a practice before the tournament when a high level tournament official instead of saying hi and welcome made the comment that I should support the game more. I was playing for that reason only, I had nothing to prove and the money was not much. Straight away I felt sick. I wanted to pull out but I have never given up in my life (Steve Mifsud told me once "you have not got the world’s best cue action but you have the world’s best mental strength and determination") so I went on to play.
I found it very hard to turn up and play but I suppose all those years of pro cuesport I played relatively ok in the early matches.
Kothari is a fine player and I played and beat his father on many occasions when he turned pro. I remember when I first met his father Manoj, former IBSF world billiards champion, and he came up to me and said “ Mr Foldvari, a pleasure to meet you, I recall when Michael Ferrierra came back from England he told us that he would have to practice harder as there is a new young player, Foldvari, and "his top of table is the best I have seen.”
I looked around and saw the official and thought what I am I doing here, I remember that, I remember I could not get top of the table because I was missing pots into the centre to get to the top. I remember my wrist going again so I just tried to play in offs as punching the ball is when it is more likely that the stabbing pain in my right wrist occurs. I remember long bouts of safety play. Looking back I was suffering depression.
I tried to ignore the situation but could not. I would not have a clue how Sourav played due to my mental state, he probably played well and congrats to him.
Hence I did go in the tournament the next year to try and do better and prepare to go to NZ for a world ranking tournament Wayne Carey had organised for a year. It was to be the biggest tournament in decades in the Oceania area with National TV, sponsors and even Trotting races named after the matches. Wayne asked me to support the tournament.
I could never imagine, feeling worse than the year before ( Sourav year) on how I was “greeted” as stated above at the beginning of that tournament but it was close the next year. This time at the opening ceremony at Yarraville the next year, Frank Dewens made a big speech and unveiled a new world championship at the exact time as the NZ tournament, unbelievable that's the first I heard of it, and my heart sank AGAIN. There was no acknowledgment to the Indian contingent, and players whispered to me that I would get a mention as he is going on about world champions but I said I won’t and did not.
Peter Gilchrist and Mathew Bolton were both aghast and we all talked to Frank about the scheduling, it is well known there was ramification in the billiard world and once again I did not feel like playing. Also all the people I talked to could not believe that Gilchrist and I had to play each other in the first match. It was actually a good match, Peter won in the last frame.
I felt terrible again in the tournament getting more and more heart palpitations and by the end I miscued in the final match and took a chunk out of my tip. Along with palpitations, I finally went against my greatest attribute, to never give up, I conceded. To be fair, a tournament official did show concern about my health after the match and a friend stayed with me until I felt I could drive home.
I’m still so passionate about cuesports and that is why I find it hard to let go and retire.
Billiards Australia: We know you are still a much sought after coach with WPBSA accreditation. Would you like to provide your web site or email address?
Robby: web site: cuesport.com.au ; email: [email protected]
Billiards Australia: Thanks for your time. Much appreciated.
Robby: Well done to all involved with Billiards Australia and that is why I went to support Chappelli's Champions event. It is great you are having more ranking events and overcoming many hurdles.
(Editor’s note: Robby has won numerous championships in snooker and other cue sport disciplines, as well as Billiards, but in this interview, we will focus mostly on his Billiards career).
Billiards Australia: How old were you when you first started playing? Where was the billiard room?
Robby: I started playing on a small outdoor table at home, then transferred to the garage, where we put in a full size table when I was 15. In the summer, under the hot tin roof, it was well over 100 deg and in the winter it leaked and the strips of carpet sometimes squelched under foot but it did not matter to me then. There was a billiard room in Bentleigh East where I road my bike to practice.
Billiards Australia: Did you start with Billiards or Snooker?
Robby: I played snooker first with second hand mismatched balls, then played billiards.
Billiards Australia: Who was your first coach (or who first showed you the basic billiard shots)?
Robby: I first learnt some billiard shots from my friend’s dad in another garage, then I went to the Chairman’s Club in Doncaster and I saw some good players play.
Billiards Australia: How long before you made your first 100 break at billiards? Do you still remember that day?
Robby: I made my first 100 soon after I got my full size table at 15, but there were many pots off the spot.
Billiards Australia: When you were young, before you won your first major event, how many hours a week did you practice?
Robby: I practised for an hour or 2 every second day, after I finished my would be VFL Football dreams at High school but on term breaks it would soon be 6 hours plus. At uni it was every day for a couple of hours and much more on many occasions, I would do 2 hr sessions, morning , afternoon and night.
Billiards Australia: Tell us a little about your experiences with the great Murt O’Donoghue and how he helped you.
Robby: I met Murt when I was lucky enough to get on a tour of NSW by the Chairman’s Club ( first semi professional team in Australasia) and we played in the City Tatts Bookies Club, (1977) then 8 tables in a great billiard room, adjacent were the bookies sorting out there bets in cash on the horses and on the snooker. Murt was there sitting and watching, near his plaque where it stated he made 7 centuries in 10 frames at snooker ( he made the world’s first 147 in the 1930s). He loved billiards much more. I was playing snooker then and he said I should play billiards and he showed me some shots. When we played intervarsity in Sydney we went to his house and he showed me more and hit me round the head when I played the wrong shot, some in jest , some quite hard. He told me many stories of the billiard greats and his hustling days. There were no mobiles then and land line calls to Sydney cost a lot so I asked him if I could write to him to ask him questions on a shot. Basically every time he wrote back he inspired me and I made my highest break in practice in the garage that day or the next. Peter Andrew, an RACV Club member, had diagrams that his dad gave him from watching Lindrum. He gave me some Lindrum diagrams to practice and helped me, he took me to meet Murt when he came down to watch the World Amateur in Melbourne where Murt showed me more at the Masonic Club. I sat next to Murt at the championship and while we watched the best players he would nudge me and whisper about their play and when they played the incorrect shot.
Perhaps 18 months later Murt invited me to stay at his house and he had a table out the back. He was getting old but could still play some great shots, he would play shots to gather the balls and he could literally play nursery cannons without looking at the balls while talking to you. I had never made a 500 break when I went up, and the second day we went out and he talked me through a break and I was so happy as I made 500. I was going to go inside and he said “let’s have one more go” and I made another consecutive 500, I could see he was pleased, perhaps more than me, he was always a jovial guy and liked looking at the ladies but he loved his wife Grace, who made the best scones after our sessions. I don’t think he and Bob Marshall saw eye to eye.
Billiards Australia: Your floating white top-of-the-table has always been known as among the most precise of players in the modern era – keeping the opponents ball “on the line”. How much of that was Murt’s influence? How important do you think that is compared to some very good players who tend to chip the opponents ball around more “in the box”?
Robby; Thanks; It was so much Murts influence, he told me he had a lightning bolt thought moment when he made the line a little shorter and hence I used that. I believe it made all the difference and by the end before I turned professional and went to England the first time, I would not go in from the garage until I made 500. I think before me everyone played the box and with the line as Fererria told the Indians he had seen something a bit more accurate after my first international appearance in the world amateur in Malta in 83 and when I went on to the UK. Mark Wildman confirmed this. I think the great Russell and Gilchrist saw me and they refined it even more. Dagley and Rex Williams made very big breaks chipping around the box but the line can really steel your concentration.
Billiards Australia: How many different cues have you used in competition over the years?
Robby: My first cue was a machine made maple and ebony butt, no badge. I remember I practised so much it had a groove worn into the butt where I gripped it, no doubt I held it too tight and that’s where my wrist injury started. It was a bit like George Ganim Jnr’s cue, very thick. After a couple of seasons in the UK I changed it to longer ASH/ Ebony cue made by Rodney Hinde who made cues for many pros. The join went loose in the week before I played Hendry in the European Snooker Open. Then I got another Hinde both longer and thinner than the first.
Billiards Australia: Tell us about your current cue – how long have you had it, how long is it, how much does it weigh, maple or ash, what size tip do you use.
Robby: I have now gone back to maple, ebony butt mainly because it feels a bit more like my American pool Cue. It is a bit under 57” and 17.25 oz. Its 9.5mm but plays better when I have a mushroom overhanging tip. It’s my brand cue Foldvari cue.
Billiards Australia: Have you made any major changes to your cue action over the years? You seem to have the cue further away from your body than you did in the early days? Was this a deliberate choice and why?
Robby: I came back one year from England and Mick Sapkin just mentioned it to me that it happened. I know I made a conscious effort to have a more open stance, like Hendry, Parrot and Steve Davis for snooker and have a longer cue action. If I knew then what I know now that was not the only thing I needed to do. It was also changed due to my wrist and back issues.
Billiards Australia: At one time, you held the world record break under the current rules. Tell us a little about that – the venue, the opponent, did you know what the record was?
Robby: It was at the Brunswick Club in the Victorian Championship, where they had a match arena and the match table was a true billiard table, very tight. They opened the pockets up about 10 years later, I confirmed that with Harry Andrews a few years ago. I played Fred Thomas in the final and David Pitt refereed. I did not know it was a world record then but Ron Atkins thought it was and he asked the IBSF and it was confirmed with the reduced hazards and some minor other rules and my record was written up and ratified in the Billiard Council rule book.
Billiards Australia: Tell us a little about what it was like when you first turned professional and went overseas to play professional snooker and billiards.
Robby: In 1983, after being seeded fourth in the world on just my Australian performances, I played in the IBSF World Amateur Billiards in Malta, reached the Semis and played in a big snooker tournament straight after in Malta where I beat Tony Drago in the semis . I was going to the UK after, to see if I should try and turn pro. Reading Snooker Scene it seemed snooker was now a major sport, in fact in the next couple of years it was bigger than Tennis and Golf. It was a great adventure, no Facebook or Internet, the world of the unknown and a big risk as I quit my job as graduate accountant at BHP in Melbourne. A Scotsman (Joe Nugent) in Malta watched me play and invited me to go to Edinburgh when I was in the UK. In my first billiards tournament in the UK I won the Alleena Classic in Widnes beating Michael Ferreira. I then went to Scotland for Hogmanay in Broxburn as they opened a new snooker club. It was the start of the snooker boom, as a promotion they put signs all over Scotland, “ Australian Billiards Champion will play anyone for as much as you like at Millers Snooker Centre outside Edinburgh”. Bookmakers backed me and I had a week out of the blue and could not lose, never losing a match and winning Barrett's Bookies (and myself) a lot of money. Played a young Scottish Amateur Champion named Stephen Hendry giving him 14 start and defeated him 5 nil. Millers snooker centre and Barrett's said if you turn pro we will sponsor you.
Later in that trip I met Mark Wildman Chairman of the WPBSA and played him In Peterborough and he said they will be putting much more money into billiards and after I made a 400 plus break he said he would help me turn pro.
Much to my parents disappointment I turned pro and went back to the UK. At the newsagents, snooker was on the back and sometimes front page, they were opening clubs everywhere with approximately 20 tables. It was like a dream, snooker was as big as tennis and golf, front page news. I was so excited but I really had nowhere to go when I arrived, so before the first tournament in 1984 I went to Atack Snooker centre in Nuneaton as it was central and I knew Norman Dagley who worked there. I practiced some billiards and made a 660 break with some people watching. The next day I played snooker against a very good amateur (John T?) and in the best of 9 match I made 4 centuries and a 90. It was almost unheard of and in a match I would never play like that again, but the owner of the club Mr Dave Atack saw it and said he would sponsor/manage me. Suddenly I was on the equivalent of over $2000 a week without hitting a ball.
Billiards Australia: Can you describe what is was like to become World Professional Billiards Champion?
Robby: The next season went well and after that in 1986 I became the 2nd youngest winner at the time of the world pro championship. Mark Wildman was true to his word, and it was on the BBC with over 1 million viewers, I beat Norman Dagley, 15 times English Champion and their favourite player, even my manager wanted him to win, he was a likeable guy. I was so happy, I was the first Australian to win since Walter Lindrum, with a part of Lindrum's waistcoat cloth in my waistcoat pocket for good luck, The stars aligned and with the first prize I could buy 60 -70% of a nice little house in Northampton. I woke up the morning after the final and that’s when it hit me, this was my dream come true. We were in a very nice hotel outside Manchester and former World pro snooker Champion and the TV commentator, John Pullman greeted me and my girlfriend at breakfast and welcomed me to the ‘WC club” (World Champion club) and gave me a bottle of Champagne. There were calls from the press and radio from Australia and for that I was runner up to Pat Cash in the Herald- Caltex Sportsman of the year award. I was overseas at that time to collect the statuette but my mum collected it from Ben Lexcin ( America’s Cup Yachting great) I hope she felt proud and a bit better about my decision to turn pro.
It was a dream come true, when I was in the dressing room getting ready to play in a snooker tournament, they were filming a documentary on Joe Johnson and Joe came up to me and said “hello World Professional Billiards champion” and I replied “Hello World Professional Snooker Champion”.
After the win I played many exhibitions at billiards/snooker in the UK and Australia. Yes I am an enigma, as I play exhibitions much differently and am able to show my personality, crowds enjoyed it and often asked me back. Two nights in a row I made 300 first shot , picked up the balls and stopped, then made two centuries at snooker.
Billiards Australia: You played against all the top players in the 80’s and 90’s. Give us your “top three” of that era and why.
Robby: Dagley was a freak, he had a smooth cue action but his bridge hand thumb used to move in unison when his cue went back and forth. His temperament was the best, always with a little grin. I believe this is correct but from when I first went to the UK in late 83 until the end of 87 Dagley was the only player who beat me in Pro tournaments and pro Ams. Then Russell and Sethi came along. Russell was a machine who refined floating white again to another level. Sethi had flair like Ferreira and was more a postman’s knock player. I think he played better in India. I am so proud to have played them and beaten them on their own soil on occasions. Of course I must mention Peter Gilchrist too. I got him often at the start of his career but he became a master break builder at top of the table with a great all round game. Russell, Sethi and Gilchrist all tried to qualify for pro snooker for a short time to no avail. But Gilchrist had the cue action for the snooker but it was hard to break through.
Billiards Australia: If you watch sport on TV (not billiards and snooker) – what do you watch?
Robby: AFL love St Kilda, the final holes of a golf major and some tennis/cricket.
Billiards Australia: Who is your sporting hero (outside of cue sports)? Why?
Robby: I grew up watching Dennis Lillee. He was at the start fast and furious and turned into a wily skilful great, but most of all when the pressure was on he would very often step up a gear.
Billiards Australia: In your prime, did you think there was any particular weakness in your game – anything you would like to have done better (technical or mental).
Robby: I can name plenty. Technically, I gripped the cue too tight for long potting for snooker which created a wrist injury which flared up continually. Also I needed a longer cue action for some shots, And more, if I knew then what I knew now some things would have changed for the better
Many a time I played too tired, another trivia question - I was the only man to ever play a professional billiards and snooker match on the same day, billiards in the morning at Sheffield and snooker at night in Aldershot.
Billiards Australia: In 2011 you played in an invitational event in Adelaide, and made a 512 unfinished, but since that time you have only entered a couple of tournaments and I don’t think we have seen you at your best. Do you think the urge to practice and compete will ever return?
Robby: I put my heart and soul into playing billiards from 16 to 25 determined to win the World pro billiards title, after that from 24 I concentrated more on snooker and tried to excel at both for the next 20 odd years, with some great results. There was too much money and glamour in snooker to ignore, so I juggled both but it effected both games in terms of preparation and looking back I was and am playing tired. In the 80’s & 90’s I was playing more top level comps than anyone, 12 pro snooker, 7 pro billiards, travelling to India 5 times a year, going to Australia to play and then the pro am billiards and snooker in the UK, maybe25 in a year??
What I am trying to say it was a lot more exciting then and goals were something to strive for, the constant travel, switching games (at the top pro level, I was the only one doing it) created some terrible performances but on occasions some that I was truly proud of and others amazed at. I won a WPBS pro snooker tournament beating Darren Morgan in the final 8-1, became the first overseas player to win the UK Pro Billiards Championship and won the biggest Pro Am Snooker tournament in the UK defeating Anthony Hamilton in the final.
Hence nowadays the urge to put in the time usually is not there, and when it is, especially for billiards my wrist and back tend to flare up, if I put in large amounts of time. Billiards is a sport where you need to be fit and for me to put more side on the ball at top of the table or run-throughs, I tend to go back to my old style of twisting my wrist which created problems in the first place.
People may question this as for the last few years I have played a lot of American pool and have been Oceania No 1 at Pool from 2012 to 2016. How can my wrist not hurt so much when I am hitting the balls harder and also you have to be stronger playing all day and all night for a whole weekend? You may ask.. In reality, my cue action is much straighter now, so my wrist most of the time is fine in pool, touch wood. I certainly don’t practice the long hours I did for billiards.
Billiards Australia: Could you imagine yourself ever just playing in a billiard tournament just for fun, without worrying too much about practice and performance?
Robby: Well, I love billiards, but in the back of my mind after I don’t play well, it is mentally painful. I would like to play for fun and I occasional do in practice or an exhibition. But at a tournament venue in Australia, there is so much repititious talk about my game now days it makes it uncomfortable to be at a venue playing and just relax, even when I play a good game there is always someone who wants to discredit you. Yes I know I put myself out there with the marketing when it contained ‘The World’s Best combined Billiards and Snooker player’. People can have a go, but on rankings and tournament level wins and articles in the UK it was certainly arguably true. People expect me to perform as I did as a youngster, even I expect it of myself, I have nothing to gain and had everything to lose if I don’t play to my own expectations.
In a physical sense, as mentioned there is more pain in my wrist and back when playing billiards than the other cuesports. I have never really written about these injuries as I tried to use mind over matter, plus no one would believe you, (and I thought it a sign of weakness but I had to keep playing , it was my livelihood) players use so many excuses that’s why so many don’t improve, it’s always someone else’s fault, “the tables not right”, "my opponent is putting me off”, “I ate peas for dinner and I can feel them rolling around in my stomach” (a true statement once told to me by a very good billiard player). But if people question my wrist story, they can go to find medical records at the Sports Medicine institute in Prahran Melbourne, the sports medicine unit in Singapore and the Olympic Hockey physiotherapist in Edgbaston England. It goes right back to the eighties.
Billiards Australia: Readers would be disappointed if I didn’t ask you about one record of which you may not be so proud – possibly the longest “single session” match ever – when you played Sourav Kothari in the semi-final of the Australian Open billiards (150-up) format, in a match that went over 7.5 hours. What are your recollections of that match? What happened?
Robby: I do not have many recollections about the match and I have hesitated to comment for various reasons but as I started answering openly in the previous questions, so what the hec.
I entered that tournament, the first Australian named Billiard title for quite a few years. I had won all the previous ones I had entered which was not that many. The previous one was the Australian 50 up, defeating Mathew Bolton about 13-8?? In 2004???. I promised myself I would never go in another Australian Billiards Championship unless I was passionate, could practice and had time (that is why I had not entered the Australian National since undefeated in 1983) and pros could not enter until mid-1990’s. Now I have young children and they are of course a major priority, along with other commitments.
Jason Colebrook was trying hard to promote the game and doing some good things, and he asked me a few times to consider entering. At one stage when I used to prepare for a tournament overseas he would be my ball boy and a good guy so I thought ‘lets do it’ for him and the game, even though I was going against my initial promise to myself. I walked into Yarraville and had a practice before the tournament when a high level tournament official instead of saying hi and welcome made the comment that I should support the game more. I was playing for that reason only, I had nothing to prove and the money was not much. Straight away I felt sick. I wanted to pull out but I have never given up in my life (Steve Mifsud told me once "you have not got the world’s best cue action but you have the world’s best mental strength and determination") so I went on to play.
I found it very hard to turn up and play but I suppose all those years of pro cuesport I played relatively ok in the early matches.
Kothari is a fine player and I played and beat his father on many occasions when he turned pro. I remember when I first met his father Manoj, former IBSF world billiards champion, and he came up to me and said “ Mr Foldvari, a pleasure to meet you, I recall when Michael Ferrierra came back from England he told us that he would have to practice harder as there is a new young player, Foldvari, and "his top of table is the best I have seen.”
I looked around and saw the official and thought what I am I doing here, I remember that, I remember I could not get top of the table because I was missing pots into the centre to get to the top. I remember my wrist going again so I just tried to play in offs as punching the ball is when it is more likely that the stabbing pain in my right wrist occurs. I remember long bouts of safety play. Looking back I was suffering depression.
I tried to ignore the situation but could not. I would not have a clue how Sourav played due to my mental state, he probably played well and congrats to him.
Hence I did go in the tournament the next year to try and do better and prepare to go to NZ for a world ranking tournament Wayne Carey had organised for a year. It was to be the biggest tournament in decades in the Oceania area with National TV, sponsors and even Trotting races named after the matches. Wayne asked me to support the tournament.
I could never imagine, feeling worse than the year before ( Sourav year) on how I was “greeted” as stated above at the beginning of that tournament but it was close the next year. This time at the opening ceremony at Yarraville the next year, Frank Dewens made a big speech and unveiled a new world championship at the exact time as the NZ tournament, unbelievable that's the first I heard of it, and my heart sank AGAIN. There was no acknowledgment to the Indian contingent, and players whispered to me that I would get a mention as he is going on about world champions but I said I won’t and did not.
Peter Gilchrist and Mathew Bolton were both aghast and we all talked to Frank about the scheduling, it is well known there was ramification in the billiard world and once again I did not feel like playing. Also all the people I talked to could not believe that Gilchrist and I had to play each other in the first match. It was actually a good match, Peter won in the last frame.
I felt terrible again in the tournament getting more and more heart palpitations and by the end I miscued in the final match and took a chunk out of my tip. Along with palpitations, I finally went against my greatest attribute, to never give up, I conceded. To be fair, a tournament official did show concern about my health after the match and a friend stayed with me until I felt I could drive home.
I’m still so passionate about cuesports and that is why I find it hard to let go and retire.
Billiards Australia: We know you are still a much sought after coach with WPBSA accreditation. Would you like to provide your web site or email address?
Robby: web site: cuesport.com.au ; email: [email protected]
Billiards Australia: Thanks for your time. Much appreciated.
Robby: Well done to all involved with Billiards Australia and that is why I went to support Chappelli's Champions event. It is great you are having more ranking events and overcoming many hurdles.
